Bridgeport needle exchange faces layoffs

Published 9:16 pm, Saturday, July 27, 2013

BRIDGEPORT -- After two decades, the city's mobile needle exchange program for drug users -- one of the few in Connecticut -- is at a crossroads even as heroin use is surging.

The two health department staffers who travel Bridgeport by van trading clean syringes for dirty ones to prevent the spread of blood-borne diseases like HIV and hepatitis are facing possible layoffs.

Mayor Bill Finch's office would not comment on what it called a "labor relations" issue. But spokesman Elaine Ficarra in a statement said Finch is "committed" to the program's continuation and "researching ways" to keep the service in place.

Ficarra did not provide details.

"It's a very good service," said Ludwig Spinelli, executive director of Optimus Healthcare in Bridgeport. "I hope there are the resources to continue it. I know there are quite a few people who depend on that van."

Roberta Stewart, executive director of AIDS Project Greater Danbury, which also exchanges needles, said she too had been unaware of any problems in Bridgeport. She said a lapse in service will have huge ramifications for the community.

Those users who have established relationships with city staff and may be ready to be referred to a treatment program will now be out in the cold, Stewart said.

"What do you say to somebody who's been coming in, doing what they need to do and all of a sudden they close the door?" Stewart said.

Finch is well aware of the importance of the exchange for Bridgeport, Ficarra said.

"The needle exchange not only helps people who are addicted, it pulls thousands of dirty syringes off the streets each month (and) protects police, fire and public works employees from needle stick injuries," Ficarra said.

Ficarra blamed some of the problems on cuts to the state funds that pay for needle exchange programs in three Connecticut cities -- Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven.

Stamford lost its mobile needle exchange initiative a few years ago.

According to the state Department of Public Health, Bridgeport can expect $151,690 for its syringe program in 2014, up from $144,478 this year.

As of last year the city's mobile exchange had four employees, but two of those were laid off over the winter, a union official said.